1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
The present invention relates generally to wireless communications and more particularly to a method and apparatus to vacate and make, on demand and in a guaranteed manner, available spectrum in use by an alternate spectrum holder.
2. Introduction
Service providers and device manufacturers (e.g., wireless, cellular, etc.) are continually challenged to deliver value and convenience to consumers by, for example, providing compelling network services. Numerous organizations have forecast significant mobile broadband traffic growth over the coming 5-10 years worldwide. On average, those forecasts approach 80% compound annual growth rate. This high traffic growth leads to the conclusion that spectrum (current and planned) targeted for exclusive licensing by mobile broadband carriers could be exhausted before the end of the decade. On the other hand, in spite of the potential spectrum scarcity problem, spectrum utilization measurements in most countries, worldwide, have shown that there is a large amount of underutilized spectrum in the 300 MHz to 6 GHz range.
The conventional strategy of fixed spectrum management is to issue a spectrum license to a specific Radio Access Technology (RAT) to enable the specific RAT to occupy the spectrum exclusively. However, such a manner of spectrum management is unable to adapt to the changing of spectrum demands dynamically in space and time, and it hence leads to uneven spectrum utilization and artificial spectrum shortage.
Industry and regulatory agencies are aware of these facts and issues, and are thereby trying to adopt more flexible and dynamic regulatory framework to enable spectrum sharing or access, which is called Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) and Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA), respectively. DSS and DSA may enable a secondary user or spectrum holder in need of spectrum availability to use spectrum assigned to, or owned by, a primary user or spectrum holder without any harmful interference.
Cloud Spectrum Services (CSS) is a framework for Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) and Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) using the cloud for spectrum management that provides optimum spectrum allocation through dynamic spectrum rentals. At the heart of the CSS framework there is a CSS database and a broker that manages and optimizes the allocation based on various inputs like device capability, base station capability, spectrum availability and user needs, user movement and the like.